(Health Korea News / Changyong Lee) As the number of medical staff experiencing burnout increases after the COVID-19 pandemic, interest is focused on AI technology that takes care of the mental health of health workers. Burnout refers to a feeling of helplessness and exhaustion that persists for a long time and does not resolve.
In its Global Health Industry Trends report containing this information, the Korea Health Industry Development Institute analyzed that 63% of U.S. medical staff experienced burnout symptoms in 2022 and that the use of AI can have a positive impact on alleviating the burnout crisis.
According to the report, the American Medical Association (AMA) conducted a survey on medical staff burnout and found that 63% of respondents experienced symptoms of burnout. This is a 5% increase compared to the previous year.
According to the results of a survey of 2,440 U.S. doctors conducted by ‘Mayoclinic Proceedings’, the academic journal of Mayo Clinic, a global medical institution, ▲ the average emotional exhaustion score increased by 38.6%, ▲ the average depersonalization score increased by 60.7%, and ▲ 62.8% experienced symptoms of burnout at least once. The scores were as follows.
These survey results appear to be due to the collapse of the work-life balance of medical staff during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, the explanation is that this also includes systemic problems that have persisted for a long time, such as the burden of Electronic Health Records (EHR), system inefficiency, and administrative burden.
Meanwhile, in May, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published research results showing that depression and anxiety were improved among medical workers who used a web-based mental health platform. The idea is that the symptoms of burnout among medical staff can be reduced by using digital.
The AI-based mental health platform helps relieve burnout by improving the mental health of medical staff. Although mental health devices using AI technology are not only applicable to medical workers, they support personalized emotional management of medical staff by utilizing technologies such as wearables, algorithms, and chatbots.
The report looked at two devices to improve mental health for medical staff. The AI-based cognitive behavioral therapy app developed by Wysa in the U.S. supports emotional management and mental health recovery. It has more than 5 million users and is known to be able to support a variety of groups, including individuals, organizations, youth, and medical service providers.
Woebot, developed by the American company Woebot, is an app created based on professional medical knowledge such as cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, and dialectical behavior therapy. It helps relieve burnout by communicating with a chatbot through a mobile phone or tablet app, and monitoring and managing the user’s emotions.
On the other hand, there are medical devices that use AI to help doctors make diagnoses. MaiLink, a Korean company owned by Maihub, is a cloud-based AI solution that provides solutions such as MyLink CXR for chest X-ray reading and MyLink MMG for breast X-ray reading. HeartMedi+ from Korea’s Aimedic is a cardiovascular disease diagnosis platform that combines CT imaging and computer simulation, and has advantages such as an automated system and shortened examination time.
The explanation is that these devices do not directly improve the mental health of medical staff, but can help improve burnout by reducing the workload of medical staff.
A Bosanjin official said, “Efforts to improve the working conditions and mental health of medical workers increase their job satisfaction, enable them to continue working, and also help improve the quality of patient treatment.”
Burnout among Korean doctors in their 20s is higher than that of Korean office workers
Meanwhile, according to ‘Development of a National Mental Health Management Model – Focusing on Office Workers’, a report published by the Korean Medical Association’s Medical Policy Research Institute in 2022, burnout among doctors was generally better than that of Korean office workers, but only among doctors in their 20s. The burnout rate was found to be higher than that of Korean office workers.
The weekly working hours of doctors were somewhat shorter than those of Korean office workers overall, but for those in their 20s, who have a high ratio of residents and clinical instructors, the working hours were 56.8 hours, which was significantly higher than that of other age groups.
In the depression survey results, 7.1% of Korean office workers suspected of depression in their 20s, 6.5% of those in their 30s, and 5.1% of those in their 40s were reported, and those suspected of depression by doctors were 14.3% of those in their 20s, 13.8% of those in their 30s, and 40% of those in their 40s. It was reported in 6.3% of cases among teenagers, showing a higher proportion of those suspected of having depression among doctors.
This shows that the rate of depression suspects is noticeably high among those in their 20s, who are mostly residents and clinical instructors, and those in their 30s, who have a high proportion of primary hospital practitioners and salaried workers.
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